Voodoo [H.S.]

Seven

"Are you trying to guilt me?" He stopped eating and looked over at me with an annoyed expression and my heart immediately started pounding.

"No not at all, that's not what I was trying to do. I was just making conversation, really."

"If you really want me to go, I'll go and sacrifice the only the time I'm going to have to myself. You know Cassie, you can be really selfish. You think I'm dumb? You do this shit all the fucking time," he scooted his chair back and sat up straighter and I prepared for a fight, setting my fork down and crossing my arms.

"What do I do? All I did was a make a comment. Don't go, I'll survive without you. I just thought it would be nice to do something outside of our boring routine," I snapped back, no matter how anxious I was about the interaction, I still couldn't help my nature to fight back.

Things weren't always like this of course. There was a reason I stayed. He could be sweet and loving. He was a lot of the time. But since we've graduated, things have been a lot more tense. I did try to break up with him a couple of times, like the first time he hit me, but he always had a really good apology or a really bad threat that kept me here.

"This boring routine as you call it, is me building our future! Everything I'm doing, I'm doing it for us! Why do you have to fucking throw that in my face every time!" He growls at me.

"I don't want to fight, come on. Just forget I said anything okay?" I'd lost my appetite so I stood up to take my plate to the sink.

"No you do want a fight or else you wouldn't have brought it up! Well here it is. God, why do you have to be such a bitch all the time?"

"Fuck you! This is insane, it's not my fault you hate your life!"

As soon as I said that, I immediately regretted it as he stood up with a fire in his eyes and I knew what was coming next. Running wasn't an option, I was trapped here in the kitchen. If he caught me, it would be worse.

The slap to my cheek never hurt as bad physically as it did emotionally. My heart fell to my stomach and my brought my hand up to the stinging feeling on my face, afraid to say anything else.

"Look at me," he said quietly, and I could see out of the corner of my eye that he'd bent down slightly to be at my eye level. I didn't look up right away and this set him off again. "Look at me!"

When I finally do what he wants, he brought his hand up to caress my cheek. "Why do you make me get like this? I hate when I have to be stern with you, but you make it so fucking difficult. Why can't you just be fucking quiet?"

"I-I'm sorry. I don't want you to be violent with me," I said quietly, fighting the urge to break his gaze.

"Violent?" He pulled away from me and laughed loudly up at the ceiling. "You think that was violent? You haven't seen anything. You don't want to know what happens when I get violent."

"Maybe I should just go home for tonight," I suggested quietly. I backed up from him to get around him and out of the corner of the kitchen.

"You're not leaving me!" He yelled as he grabbed my arm.

"Please stop, you're hurting me."

"You're not going fucking anywhere! You're not leaving me!" He yelled again. He pulled me away from my spot roughly and I tried to fight it.

"Stop pulling me! What are you doing! I just want to go home, please I'm not leaving you!" I tried to loosen his grip on my arm but I failed as he just tightened his hand and dragged me further along the apartment until we're standing outside his bedroom door.